People in the News

America’s First Federal Credit Union, Birmingham, Ala.,has appointed Audra Weber as the new vice president of human resources and training. Weber has been with America’s First since 2011 and was formerly the assistant vice president of human resources. She has over 23 years of experience in human resources and is SPHR certified. Callahan Financial Services, Washington, a subsidiary of Callahan & Associates announced the addition of Kevin Heal as vice president of sales & business development. Heal joins Jon Jeffreys, vice president, and Mike Philbin, vice president of sales on the management team. Heal brings with him more than 25 years of sales and trading experience with both large investment banks and regional broker dealers. Heal will also manage the expansion of Callahan Financial Services role in the credit union market by collaborating with new distribution partners to expand the distribution and investor base of the TCU funds.

CUNA Brokerage Services, Madison, Wis., recently announced that Mike Bunge has joined CBSI to lead new- business development for the broker-dealer. Bunge most recently served as the senior vice president of business and community development at Summit Credit Union in Madison. In that role, he promoted financial literacy by launching a credit union branch in a local high school as well as coached families participating in the credit union’s “Project Money” program, which helped members work to reduce debt, increase savings, and learn how to make every dollar count. Bunge also helped facilitate the largest credit union merger in Wisconsin between Great Wisconsin Credit Union and Summit Credit Union. He managed several areas of the merger and was a key member of the merger steering committee. Before joining Summit Credit Union in 2004, Bunge served for many years with CUNA Mutual Group in a number of capacities.

CUNA Mutual Group, Madison, Wis., has added to its lending compliance resources with the hiring of Jon Bundy as compliance manager, Lending Service Products. In this role, Bundy will focus on lending and deposit laws and regulations, and the resulting compliance challenges facing credit unions. Bundy will provide regulatory lending compliance expertise to LOANLINER Documents and loanliner.com® customers and develop lending solutions to help credit unions expand their loan portfolios, with a special focus on the expected mortgage compliance changes from the Consumer Financial Protection Board in 2013. Bundy earned a law degree from the University of Wisconsin. He also attended the University of North Carolina School of Government, where he earned a master of public administration degree.

Fort Knox Federal Credit Union, Fort Knox, Ky., has announced that after more than 36 years of service, Carolyn F. Drake is retiring effective Dec. 1. She was appointed to her current position of executive vice president more than 27 years ago. Ray Springsteen, senior vice president at Fort Knox Federal since 2009, will be promoted to the executive vice president position.

HVFCU Financial Services, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a division of the Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union, announced the appointment of Reid Jecmen as a financial consultant based in its Montgomery, N.Y., office. As an HVFCU financial services consultant, Jecmen is experienced in retirement planning, estate planning, insurance and wealth management for individuals and businesses. He is also certified by the New York State Insurance Department as an approved long-term care and life insurance professional.

myCUmortgage, Fairborn, Ohio, announced that Jon Fogel has joined the CUSO as its newest business development manager. In his new role, he will help credit unions become stronger mortgage lenders. Fogel will focus on adding new credit unions to the myCUmortgage program as well as support existing credit unions. He brings more than a decade of mortgage banking experience to myCUmortgage, largely consisting of managing credit union partnerships throughout the southeast. Fogel received dual bachelor of science degrees in communication studies and computer science from the University of Michigan.

MoneyDesktop, Provo, Utah has announced the hiring of former Mountain America Federal Credit Union executive Bret Skousen as vice president of strategic partnerships and public relations. In his role at MoneyDesktop, Skousen manages existing partner interaction as well as creates new partner relationships. Skousen also leads public relations outreach for the company. Before joining MoneyDesktop, Skousen served as senior vice president of sales, research and development, and corporate real estate for MACU.

PSCU, St. Petersburg, Fla., named Brian Caldarelli as the new chief financial officer. Concurrently, the company appointed Rini Fredette as vice president of enterprise risk management to manage all of PSCU’s internal risk areas, including operational, information technology and reputational. Caldarelli brings to PSCU a diverse background in finance, strategy deployment and enterprise risk management. Since 2008, Caldarelli served as chief financial officer of the European division of Recall Corp. Caldarelli holds an undergraduate degree in finance from Stetson University and an MBA from Emory University. Fredette will lead the company’s initiatives to develop and execute formal processes to manage risk.

Securian Financial Group, St. Paul, Minn., announced that Christopher R. Sebald was promoted to president of Advantus Capital Management, a Securian subsidiary. Formerly executive vice president and chief investment officer of Advantus, Sebald will continue to serve as CIO. Sebald, 47, has been active in the investment industry for 24 years, 15 of them with Advantus. As CIO, he will continue to oversee investment policy, strategy formulation, product development and business development. Sebald also will continue his involvement in portfolio management for several fixed income portfolios in the Securian Funds Trust, institutional portfolios and the Ivy Bond Fund, which Advantus sub advises. Sebald, has a bachelor’s degree in economics and an MBA degree from the University of Minnesota.

TDECU, Lake Jackson, Texas, announced the recent selection of TDECU real estate agents, Shayne McGehee and Ryan Birdsong as 2012 five-star real estate agents by Texas Monthly magazine. Less than the top 2% of Houston-area real estate agents are awarded the honor which is based solely on feedback obtained from clients, peers and industry experts. Birdsong has nine years of industry experience. Through an independent survey, McGehee and Birdsong were evaluated in nine different areas which determined their top ranking in providing exceptional service and overall client satisfaction. These areas included integrity, customer service, communication skills, industry knowledge and whether clients would recommend them to a friend or family member.